Having won the praises of Elton John and the wider music industry with her debut album SAWAYAMA in 2020, RINA SAWAYAMA is back with new single, This Hell. Speaking to ROLLING STONE UK in an exclusive digital cover story, Rina reveals how therapy and “re-parenting” herself during the pandemic inspired her second album, Hold The Girl.
Rina on learning to ‘re-parent’ herself:
“When you’re in your early to mid 20s, you’re not really an adult so how can you parent yourself? When I hit my 30s, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m an adult. I really feel like an adult now.’ To be able to see the things that happened in the past from an adult perspective is something that’s very new to when you’re in your 30s. Also, now I’m at my parents’ age when they had me, that’s a new perspective that I can now see, like, ‘God, I cannot imagine being a parent at this age.’”
Rina on how her relationship with her mum inspired the song ‘Catch Me In The Air’:
“It’s about how we've kind of caught each other in the air at different times in our lives, and how intense single parenthood can be. Just kind of celebrating that partnership because when you [have] a single mum, they’re your sister and your child at the same time. Just writing about the complications of that from an adult perspective. I could never have done what she did: she couldn't speak English, moved [to the UK] with my dad, and then they separated. My dad was the breadwinner. My mum didn't know how to earn money. We shared a room ‘til I was 15. How the fuck did she do that when she was a little bit older than me?”
Rina on going back to therapy after lockdown:
“Before the pandemic no one recognised me ever, I could just go out in the streets looking like shit and now it’s very, very different. I actually had to go back into talk therapy when I first started getting recognised because of the anxiety of not seeing anyone, almost getting agoraphobia by not leaving the house. People have nice intentions and want to come so close to you and hug you, but it was completely freaking me out.”
Rina on not being competitive with other women in music:
“I personally don't like to think that there’s competition in the music industry with girls in my field now. It’s easy to start to buy into that narrative so much that if you don't do this, someone else will. But I try not to engage in that anymore… I grew up with Christina versus Britney war and I don’t want to subscribe to that – it’s silly, we should all support each other as there is space for everybody especially because of streaming.”
EDITOR’S NOTES:
All quotes and images must CREDIT AND LINK ‘read the full feature at www.rollingstone.co.uk’ and social media posts should tag @RollingStoneUK
(NB: not rollingstone.com or @RollingStone which is the US magazine.)
